Feature: Bao Tien’s Lexus IS350

May 12, 2014

When I first saw Bao post his car to our wall on Facebook, I knew I had to be the one to shoot it. It just had such presence, even thru a cell phone picture, it had that wow factor that’s rarely seen on cars around here anymore.

Figuring out a window of time to shoot it however, was not as easy as the decision to feature it. Bao is an extremely busy dude, he works 7 days a week and doesn’t have much time to spare. However the Sunday before last, after a long day of covering Medomak we decided to brave the scattered rain showers, and meet up for some shots. Man am I glad I decided to get out there that day and shoot, the weather made this car pop like nothing I have ever shot before. Every single time I released that shutter I was happy with the result. This car is just so photogenic from every angle I put it in, and I think that fact really shows.

As simple as this car was too shoot, it was equally as simply modded. I was unsure at first glance, if it was static or on air just from the pure fact of how low it is, but as soon as I saw it drive I could tell it was on coils. Which when you look at it blows your mind. I mean don’t get me wrong I have seen plenty of cars this low before, but very few have been able to pull off this kinda low without massive amounts of camber.

The very biggest thing for me personally with this car were the wheels, I am NOT a fan of this style. I have always seen them on evo’s and some other cars and they just never really worked for me, but on this thing? WOW. Come to find out they’re actually Varrstoen ES6’s, which I only found out upon asking Bao. Some people aren’t going to like the fact that he stuck a Work stickers on the spokes, but I challenge any of you out there to tell me you weren’t fooled. On top of that Bao didn’t try to play them off as reps at all, just said “yep they’re Varrstoen’s”. Which personally I think is pretty cool. Too many people now a day’s try to claim their reps as the real deal, but it’s guys like Bao that can pull this sort of thing off. Now sit back, and enjoy these shots.